Jessica Helfand

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Feeling

To feel fragile is to feel human, which is to recognize your inherent vulnerability, not your presumed invincibility.

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 127: Fear and Longing

Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters; Hrishi Hirway and Mike Errico; The Quiz Broadcast; Shakespeare and Co. Project

Jessica Helfand|Audio

Episode 128: Decoding Luxury

Guest host Avery Trufelman talks about Articles of Interest, clothing, luxury; Larry Rosenberg’s Breath by Breath; Little Fires Everywhere on Hulu

Jessica Helfand|Audio

Episode 129: Spatial Justice

A conversation with De Nichols about cities, monuments, and designing for community.

Jessica Helfand|Terms of Service

We (All) The People

We the people means all—not just some of the people.

Jessica Helfand|Audio

S9E3: Astra Taylor

Astra Taylor is an artist, activist, and founder of the Rolling Jubilee and the Debt Collective. Her latest book is Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions.

Jessica Helfand|Audio

S9E12: Jessica Helfand + Ellen McGirt

Highlights of Season 9, and new hosts Dana Arnett and Kevin Bethune.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

All Things Matter

His name was Herbert Matter, a man even the ornery Paul Rand described as possibly the least pompous person on the planet. When I was a junior in college, he taught me how to make a Photogram. He was 74 years old.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

A Stitch in Time: A Review of 9

The comically repetitive date of 090909 iss thought to be a lucky day, a day of optimism and interconnectedness. It was also the release date for the new animated film, 9.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Significant Objects: Elvis Chocolate Tin

Significant Objects is a much-discussed experiment conducted by Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker. The fifth of five stories is by Jessica Helfand...

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Can Graphic Design Make You Cry?

How can you create anything visually compelling if you don’t engage at some fundamentally human level — a place where memory and feeling are as valued as form and execution?

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Open Letter to Design Students Everywhere

My freedom thus consists in my moving about within the narrow frame that I have assigned to myself for each one of my undertakings. I shall go even further: my freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I …